The New Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Friends
by Zosonils
Summary: xX-On Hiatus For Now-Xx In an alternate universe, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Shadow are all living in a village without any knowledge of their powers. They must use the abilities they never knew they had to save their families, their homes, each other, and all of Mobius from the evil Dr. Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik! Got any ideas? Message them to me! Rated PG for action violence.
1. Acknowledgements, Info and Intro

By the way, you don't have to read all of this. Well, actually, you need to read most of it, but feel free to skim read it. You can skip the acknowledgements entirely if you want to, actually. Just so long as you pay attention to the information, which is vital, and at least get the idea of the intro so that you know what's going on, then you're all good. Sorry that this bit is so long. I thought I'd let everyone know, especially those of you who absolutely despise large blocks of text like this.

Acknowledgements

I want to thank my family. And yes, I know that's a seriously clichéd acknowledgement, but it's true, so deal with it. I have a mum, a dad, and a little sister. I'd especially like to say a few extra thanks to Mum for reading everything that I write and telling me that it's good, even when it's obvious she's lying. Love you, Mum. You freaking liar. I want to say thank you to my absolute BFF of 7 years (at the time of writing, of course), WizzGirl. At least that's what she likes to be called online. Wizz has her own YouTube channel, so search up 'wizzgirl3105' on the internet and click on the first result to watch some of her vids and give her a well-deserved subscribe. Moving on, I want to say thanks to my extended family as well, for loving me and helping me just as much as my immediate family, especially through the difficult parts of life. All of my friends deserve a big thank you as well, but the list of beautiful people is too long to fit on this page. They know who they are, and they know I love them. Naturally, I'm gonna send a shout out to SEGA for creating the amazing games that this story is based on, as without those games Sonic the Hedgehog would not be here to help me through my life, which has been a bit tricky, especially in recent times. I also want to thank Archie Comics, because all the awesome people there have brought me fun times, good reads, a way to enjoy Sonic when my parents kick me off the computer, and a few more of the characters in this fanfiction. And last of all, I want to say thanks to you, whoever you are, for reading my work and making me feel a little more appreciated. You're an amazing person, I can just tell somehow.

-Zosonils

Things that you REALLY NEED TO KNOW to properly understand this fanfiction!

The story that you're about to read is different from, like, at least 99% of fanfiction. The heroes are all friends. Nobody evil is good, and nobody good is evil. There are very few fan-made characters involved. Nobody swears all the time. There are no mature themes, and there never will be. Ages have not been changed for high school or whatever EXCEPT for Knuckles. (Thanks to a certain 'Thewicked9r' for pointing this out! Knuckles is now 15, not 17.) The characters live a regular life. Nobody lives in an orphanage or on the streets or anything. It's all NORMAL. If you want the other 99% of fanfiction, go read something else.

This story brings together characters, settings and events from all takes on Sonic's world, whether they're 'canon' or not. This means the games, the comics, and a few characters from TV shows. The Sonic Boom universe is the only world not included in the storyline, it is only seen in one or two Easter eggs I put in. (I'm not telling you what or where they are, though. That's why they're called 'Easter eggs'.) Here's what I've done with these many worlds - Games: Characters, locations, events. Comics: Characters, locations. TV: Characters.

I've sort of made an entirely new universe here. Things in the beginning are something like this: The five main characters, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Shadow are living a completely normal life. They live with their families (except for Shadow, he lives alone, I'll explain later), along with a few other characters from the games, comics, and TV (although most of those other people aren't crucial to the storyline). I've used mostly the comic universe for the families and although I've tweaked a few things, I haven't made up any previously unseen relatives (except for with Amy, because as far as I know her family has never been shown or even discussed in any form, ever. If anyone knows of such an appearance, I'm open to suggestions). Although they retain their personalities (Sonic: impatient but heroic, Tails: super smart, generally nice, etc.) and other key features of their lives (like Amy having a crush on Sonic and Shadow's loss of his best friend, which made us all sad for him), their powers aren't discovered until a while into the story. In fact, the discovery of said powers are kind of a setup for the plot. Dr. Eggman hasn't yet begun his evil doings and attempted conquest of Mobius - once again, this isn't seen until a few chapters in and is kind of used to set up the story.

Although it's not too much of a key factor, I've used spelling, legal systems and all that jazz from Australia, where I come from. But you aren't getting my full address, so save us all a headache and don't even bother trying. Primary school is from the first year of school to either grade 6 or 7, depending on exactly where you live (once again, not telling), and high school is everything after that. The school year isn't half in one year and half in another, because seriously, whoever made school happen in America, that's just confusing. (BTW, middle school? What is this 'middle school' you speak of?) I also used the spelling of Australia, for instance, colour has a 'u' in it and your mother is your mum. Also, we tend to use metres, centimetres and kilometres here, not feet, inches and miles. And we use kilograms and grams, not pounds and ounces. So be prepared for that. You know, all that stuff.

This story won't be updated constantly. I'm still a kid and I have to keep on top of my school stuff. The New Adventures of Sonic and Friends will be a priority in my spare time, but like many of you readers, I'm living in a world where the pressure to get good marks in school is almost as intense as the final boss of Sonic Colours. (ALMOST as intense. Almost. Nothing is THAT intense.) Hope you understand. I'll update a lot more frequently in the holidays, but you'll have to be patient most of the time.

SONIC, THERE ARE HOMING MISSILES! (Sonic Generations reference for the WIN!)

Well, I'm done. You can read the fanfiction now.

Introduction

Welcome to the Green Hill Zone, one of the five Zones on South Island. Just a short journey around the island will quickly take you anywhere you might wish to go, be it the lava-filled caves and mysterious underground buildings of unknown origin in the Marble Zone, the steep twists and turns that the Spring Yard Zone is full of, the perilous caverns flooded with water that symbolise the dangerous Labyrinth Zone, or the long nights, cool temperatures and feelings of peace which come with the Star Light Zone. South Island may be filled with exciting and interesting locations, and don't worry, for adventures in all these exciting places are likely to come. But the most famous, symbolic and beloved Zone is the one we started with - the peaceful Green Hill Zone.

The sun shines warmly on the lush grass, growing in a unique soil with an unmistakeable brown-and-orange checkerboard pattern. A light, warm breeze rustles the leaves of the occasional palm tree, ripe and delicious coconuts threatening to drop at any moment. Flowers grow in randomly placed clumps of bright yellow and calm lilac, and tiny birds flitter around, dodging cute squirrels, bunnies, and other native fauna. Surely no matter where you're searching, from the sky-high paradise of Angel Island to the cities of the United Federation such as Westopolis, Central City, Spagonia and Mazuri, there couldn't possibly be any better place to live.

And yes, some are lucky enough to live here. The smallish, slightly rustic Emerald Village, located in a peaceful valley, is home to a few hundred Mobians - animals with the structure and behaviour of humans that are the dominant species on this planet we call Mobius. And what you are about to read is the story of five Mobians. Five incredible Mobians. Five incredible Mobians who just happen to be the best of friends. And yet they are completely unaware of the amazing powers that are within them, just slightly out of reach. In fact, they lead a more or less normal life - going to school each morning, hanging out together in the afternoon, and sleeping in their beds every night. At least, for now. Join these friends on an epic adventure that will turn their lives upside down, test their loyalties to each other, and most of all, teach them about the seemingly limitless powers they never knew they had.

And to think that this adventure is no more than the turn of a page away.


	2. Chapter 1 - Five Friends

Chapter 1 - Five Friends

A gloved hand grabbed the doorknob and twisted once. The wooden door flew open at super speed, making a loud bang on the outside wall of another average house in Emerald Village.

"Honestly, Sonic, could you just try to be at least a little bit more careful?" Bernadette 'Bernie' Hedgehog scolded her eldest son.

"Aw, relax, Mum!" Sonic grinned with his usual carefree attitude. Sonic was, as his last name suggested, a hedgehog, a little over sixteen years old. He had the same bright blue fur as his parents and his arms, stomach, the insides of his ears and the area around his mouth were all a tan skin tone in the way that was normal for a hedgehog. Being a guy, Sonic didn't wear clothes, a typical feature of Mobian culture. He simply wore a pair of white gloves, a long-lasting trend in his small hometown, and a pair of shoes. Now here is the interesting part. Sonic was extremely athletic and a little hyperactive. The combination of these two factors meant that he spent a lot of his spare time running around, and for a few years, this was a problem - it was rare for the soles of his sneakers to last more than a month. But then a solution was found. A special pair of shoes was made for Sonic by his uncle, a part-time inventor. These shoes were incredibly durable and had been specifically designed to reduce friction. Sonic always chose the exact same appearance: red, with gold buckles attached to white straps. His eyes were the same emerald-like colour that gave the Green Hill Zone its unforgettable name, and they flicked impatiently from the door to outside to his mum.

"This door hits the wall all the time!" Sonic continued, making it obvious he wanted to leave in a hurry.

"That's exactly why I don't want you doing any more damage!" Bernie shot back. She was used to her son's backchat and had quite a few snappy comebacks stored underneath her straight blonde hair.

Sonic was quick to pull out all the 'impatience' body language. He tapped his foot and crossed his arms. Rolling his eyes, he sighed, "Look, Mum, I love you and all of that stuff. Can I go now? I know that I normally go later than Sonia and Manik, but that doesn't mean I leave at sunset. I need to be real fast or I'll be super late!"

Bernie smiled. "I love you too, honey. Here's your bag. Have a great day!" she said, handing Sonic a slightly faded red and blue backpack. "Oh, and could you tell Mrs. Prower that I'll return her book a little later than expected?" Sonic nodded, took his bag, waved, and raced off. In just a few minutes, he screeched to a stop between two houses, one small and with a somewhat lonely, dismal appearance, the other noticeably bigger and overgrown with weeds. Sonic knocked first on the front door of the smaller house, then the bigger one. He paced from side to side constantly - he hated waiting. After the almost torturous delay of seven long, painful seconds, the lonely house's door opened to reveal one of Sonic's friends, Shadow.

Shadow looked as if he wouldn't particularly mind strangling somebody and was holding a black bag with red straps in one tensely clenched hand. By the looks of it, he had only just got up and had his breakfast, and he wasn't fully awake yet. It may seem as if Shadow had gotten off to a bad start, but it was normal for him to be in this sort of mood. Like Sonic, Shadow was a sixteen-year-old hedgehog, but a lot more serious and perhaps a little dark-natured. He was almost entirely pure black, except for red streaks on his arms, legs and individual spines, those spines curved back and upwards a little in a somewhat interesting pattern. Although his ears and face had the normal hedgehog markings, Shadow wasn't quite the same as most of his kind when it came to looks - he had a white explosion of fur on his chest instead of the regular smooth circle, and his arms were the same black with red as the rest of him. His eyes were the bright scarlet colour of blood, which may seem unusual (not to mention a little creepy), but is one of many seemingly strange but actually fairly normal eye colours in Mobians. A similarly red stripe framed his eyes, like permanent eye makeup. Shadow wore the common white gloves, but with his own personal touch: they were black around the wrist and had an extra touch of red, which stopped just in time to make room for gold armbands. His socks had a similar pattern around the ankles, but the rest was hidden by his shoes, which were a slightly stained white with red around the edges. These shoes had small wheels concealed in their soles, giving Shadow a bit of a speed boost and a tendency to move around as if skating.

"Looks like _some_ body's having a bad day," Sonic greeted Shadow with a hint of sarcasm.

"If you value your life, you'll shut up," Shadow sleepily fired back, in his normal straight-to-the-point way. "Then again, in some cases I doubt you're intelligent enough to do so."

"Hey!" Sonic retorted defensively. "My mama didn't raise no fool except for Manik!"

The two hedgehogs were about to start another of their infamous '2-minute wars' when they were interrupted by the unmistakeable creaking sound of a door opening.

"Kneecaps, get off my leg… I have to go… Seriously, you're like two years old, not two months… Knecapeon! Get the heck off!"

It was Knuckles, another of Sonic's friends and Shadow's neighbour. And by the looks of it, his half-brother Knecapeon (or 'Kneecaps') had come with him. Knuckles was a 15-year-old echidna. He was mostly red, but with a pale skin tone around his mouth and a white ring curving across his chest. His spines were long and pointed downwards, hiding his ears and laying casually on his back. Knuckles had dark purple eyes, another unusual-looking but actually quite common eye colour for Mobians. Something that most people noticed almost immediately about Knuckles were his gloves - they followed the 'white' trend, but each had two small spikes on them, sticking out from his fists. This wasn't a fashion statement, but the result of a physical mutation he had been born with. Knuckles wore gloves not because he was into the trend, but to trick others into thinking his spikes were just a cool accessory. It worked, too. His green socks were mostly hidden by red shoes with a wide yellow band across the middle. A grey rectangular shape with a pattern similar to LEGO bricks (COPYRIGHT CLAIMS LOL) protruded from the yellow stripe, and at this particular moment, a 2-year-old with a fairly similar appearance in a blue onesie was hanging off Knuckles' leg.

"For the last time, Kneecaps, GET OFF ME!" Knuckles growled, starting to lose his temper.

"No wa, na-na!" Kneecaps responded. Sonic and Shadow were about to stop laughing and start helping when Knuckles' mother Lara-Le stepped outside and beat them to it.

"Come inside, sweetie," she said to her youngest son as she gently prised him off Knuckles' leg. "Knuckles has to go now, you need to say bye-bye." Noticing Sonic and Shadow, she said a cheerful "Hi!" as she finally freed Knuckles. Kneecaps saw the two hedgehogs and waved frantically in the way that toddlers do.

"Hi-hi, sa-na an sa-do!" he said to Sonic and Shadow, who waved back. Knuckles rubbed his leg and went to join his friends.

"Hey, Knux," Sonic grinned at his friend.

"You know, you could have helped back there," Knuckles pointed out as he swung his bright green backpack casually over one shoulder.

"Or we could've put it on the internet in the form of a video," Shadow said.

"You WHAT?!"

Sonic laughed so hard he practically fell over. Knuckles, however, didn't appreciate the funny side of this, and he looked through his friends' phones three times each before figuring out that Shadow had been joking. After Shadow escaped being knocked out, Sonic started to run up the street and around the corner. "Let's go, you guys!" he called. "Tails and Amy are probably waiting."

"Yeah, waiting for their alarms to go off," Shadow muttered, still tired, but skated after his friends anyway.

After a few more minutes of walking and a heated three-way debate over whether speed, strength or teleportation was the best at kicking butt, Sonic, Shadow and Knuckles stopped at a two-storey house with a neat garden. Sonic pressed a finger on the doorbell and stepped back. There was the sound of footsteps, then the door opened to reveal Tails.

Tails might have only been twelve, but he was easily Sonic's best friend. He was a fox, and an extremely smart one - so smart, in fact, that he had been pushed forwards from Year 6 with the rest of the kids of his age to Year 10 with the 16-year-olds like Sonic and Shadow. Tails' fur was a yellow-orange colour that turned white as snow in the normal 'fox' places: around the mouth, inside the ears, on the stomach and at the end of the tail. 'Tails' wasn't his real name (it was actually Miles), but a friendly nickname given due to the feature that set him apart - Tails had two tails. His eyes were the light blue of a peaceful, cloudless sky, except a bit lighter. The fur on Tails' forehead grew longer in certain places, so that he had a fringe of three spikes that occasionally fell in his eyes. He wore plain white gloves, almost identical to Sonic's, and simple canvas shoes that were half red and half white.

"Hi guys!" Tails said happily. He seemed to be in a fairly good mood. A navy blue schoolbag sat neatly on his back, obviously packed and ready to go. "So, are we gonna get going now?"

Suddenly, Tails' mum Rosemary Prower appeared behind him. "Hey there, honey," she smiled as she ruffled her son's fur. A hint of red glowed through the white fur on Tails' face.

"Mum, stop, I'm not five anymore!" Tails protested, trying to escape.

"I know," Rosemary sighed. "Have a great day!" Without warning, she pulled Tails into a tight and embarrassing hug. Tails went red again. He pulled himself to freedom and quickly ran outside. Sonic, Knuckles and Shadow followed, holding in laughter and sprinting to keep up. When Tails wanted to get out of something, he could almost move faster than Sonic.

When they were a safe distance away, Tails asked, "Why does my mum have to be so embarrassing? Cos I can't figure it out, and my IQ is 200-ish even when you don't take age into account."

"Hey, chill out, my mum's worse," Knuckles argued, shuddering at the memory. "Remember that time about a year back when she accidentally put Kneecaps' baby food in my lunchbox?"

Sonic laughed. "It might have sucked for you, but it was hilarious for the rest of us." He immediately regretted saying this when a spiked fist slammed into his right arm. "Ow! Dude, I was joking! You didn't have to physically damage me permanently!"

"That's why I didn't, you just have to stop being so weak!" Knuckles shot back. He and Sonic started to argue, back and forth, until Shadow interrupted them.

"FOR THE LOVE OF MOBIUS, CAN YOU TWO JUST **SHUT UP!** " he yelled. The group instantly fell silent, the usual reaction when Shadow flipped out.

"Geez, touchy," Sonic muttered, earning an angry jab in the ribs from Shadow's elbow. "Wow, is it Beat Up Sonic Day today?!"

The foursome continued walking, discussing their holidays and occasionally arguing a little, although Shadow didn't end up freaking out a second time. Soon, the friends were approaching a massive house with flowers blooming in the front garden. Somebody in the house called out, "Hey, your boyfriends are here!" and was responded to with "For the billionth time, they're just friends who are boys!" The muffled sound of footsteps was heard, then the front door flew open (almost smacking Shadow in the face) and Amy stood there, dragging a grey roller bag behind her.

Amy was the only girl in the small friendship group, but in no way the least useful. She could easily be considered extremely pretty, but she didn't use her looks to gain popularity like the stereotype suggests. Like two of her friends, Amy was a hedgehog, somewhere between 13 and 14 years old. She was a soft pink colour with the normal hedgehog markings and eyes of a sort of grey-green. These eyes were framed with the thick eyelashes that are the most tell-tale feature of female Mobians. Amy's short spines hung down on her shoulders, like a short, neat haircut. On the subject of hair, she had a wild, shortish fringe kept under control by a red headband. True to Mobian culture, Amy wore clothing - to be specific, a red dress with white edging around the bottom. She was the type of person who kept several copies of the same outfit, so she nearly always wore the same thing. Amy also followed the 'white gloves' trend. Hers had the extra touch of fake-gold bracelets firmly tightened around her wrists. She wore knee-high red boots with a white stripe down the middle, the perfect match for her outfit.

"Hi there, guys!" Amy said cheerfully, blushing slightly. She didn't want to admit it, but Amy had a massive crush on Sonic. And, well, to be honest, she didn't really need to say anything. "So, uh, should we get going?" Before Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Shadow had time to answer, Amy was walking away. She was too late, though. Her older sister Amanda stepped into the doorway just as her male friends started to follow.

"Heya, Amy and boyfriends," she greeted them, her arms folded as usual and the slightest trace of a smirk that could always be seen on her face. Amanda looked a lot like Amy, but her eyes were blue instead of green, her fringe was neatly brushed to one side, and today she was wearing a notably short green dress and shiny black high heels. Her comment caused Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles and Tails to go slightly red and Amy to go even redder.

"Hi Mandy I really need to go now they're just friends okay bye," Amy said quickly. She had never gotten along that well with her eighteen-year-old sister.

Amanda decided to let her go. "Okay, Ames. Have a good day and all that junk. Rainbow's gonna be here soon and I don't want her seeing me with my little sis and her 'just friends'. Go on, skedaddle," she replied. With that, she turned around and walked back inside, giving Amy a much-needed chance to escape.

Once they were out of earshot of her house, Amy said, "Sorry about that, guys. You know what Amanda's like."

Sonic shrugged. "Hey, I live with Sonia and Manik Hedgehog. They make Amanda look like she worships you," he explained. "And hey, being the oldest is way harder. You have to watch your younger siblings get away with stuff that you wouldn't have even dared to try at their age. And don't even get me started on responsibility. You get the blame for everything. Food on the expensive new couch? What kind of a cruel, heartless family member could do this to us? Hey, I have an idea, let's all point at Sonic for no obvious reason."

Amy laughed. "Maybe you're right."

"Definitely he's right," Knuckles butted in. "One word: Knecapeon.

"

Tails smiled. "Ha, I'm an only child. No annoying siblings for Miles Prower, commonly known as Tails. Suffer, lower mortals!" Laughter broke out through the group on another peaceful and fun day in the small but amazing Emerald Village.

Sonic yawned. "Well, first day back at school! Who's not excited?" he asked sarcastically. Everyone raised a hand. Knuckles raised two - he had been held back twice to Amy's year level. Tails hesitated for a split second, then put his hand in the air. Amy clapped and Tails just shrugged. The friends laughed and kept on walking, unaware that adventure was just around the corner.

Sonic Hedgehog - fast-moving and quick-witted, slightly arrogant but mostly heroic. Miles 'Tails' Prower - smart, logical, sometimes nervous but always friendly. Knuckles Guardian - strong both physically and mentally, gullible in some ways but experienced in others. Amy Rose - powerful, passionate, overprotective and yet respectful. And Shadow Kintobor - the strong and silent type, a dangerous enemy but a powerful ally. Five friends with different personalities, abilities and traits. A perfect team of heroes, you might say. And you're right. But why exactly, and how? Well, that's a good question. But it's one for another chapter…


	3. Chapter 2 - First Day Back

**Chapter 2 - First Day Back**

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Shadow came to a stop in front of Emerald High School. The high school was the only one in the village, but it was a good one. It was made of stone, which had started to crack a little in some places, and several smaller buildings worked together to make up the school. Our five friends walked in and went to their lockers, which were all in the same corridor. Suddenly, Sonic stopped walking and yelled, "Dangit!"

"What is it?" Tails asked. "Did you forget something?"

"*sigh* Yeah. I had to pass on a message from my mum to yours, but I forgot somehow," Sonic replied.

"Give me the message. I'll tell her when I get home," Tails said loyally. He would do just about anything to help his friends.

"Okay. It went something like this: Apparently, my mum borrowed a book from your mum. She's taking a while to read it and she'll have to return it later than she expected to."

Tails started to answer, but before he could, a familiar voice came from next to them. "What was the book called, losers? Was it by any chance _'How To Deal With Your Kids Being Freaks'_ or something?"

Everyone in our group of friends turned to where the mean voice was coming from. Their fears were confirmed - Lightning Cloud was standing against a locker, smirking. Like the majority of Emerald Village's residents, Lightning was a hedgehog, around the same age as Sonic and Shadow. He was a bright yellow, with a tan skin colour in the typical hedgehog areas and a single, jet-black streak that ran along his top spine and stopped around his forehead. On the topic of spines, Lightning's pointed straight backwards, a little like Shadow's spines but a lot straighter. His eyes were an extremely dark shade of blue, almost going into a purple-indigo colour. Lightning slightly bent the rules of Mobian society, wearing a black leather jacket, but nothing much else. He followed the white gloves trend, like almost everyone, and his shoes were jet black with bright red laces. Now, you could be forgiven for thinking that Lightning seemed like a cool guy. But don't let looks fool you, because he was a first-class bully, determined to seek out anyone who had even the slightest flaw, the tiniest bit of disrespect for him, or a single sign of being better than him in some way or other, then mercilessly torture them. He had gained the fearful respect of nearly all the hundred and twenty or so students in the school, and seemed to have an unexplained grudge against the five. Although a well-timed comeback could leave him stuttering, nothing and no one could divert him from a target - except for another potential victim.

"You know, Lightning, you could use a book like that. Shame nobody in your family can read," Amy snapped.

This comment didn't seem to affect Lightning. He simply shot back, "So in all those years of your sister and my sister hanging out, you've never seen Rainbow with a magazine before?"

Amy rolled her eyes. "First of all, there are lots of pictures in those things. And second, the only reason she has good grades is because Amanda does her homework for her."

Lightning's eyes narrowed. "Big deal. Besides, that wasn't much of a comeback. Does anyone here know how to say stuff back? You pathetic losers make this too easy. Um, anybody who has a decent response, please report to the front desk."

Shadow suddenly stepped forwards. His friends were somewhat confused - Shadow rarely got involved in small verbal fights like these. He growled without even the slightest trace of sarcasm, "I have something for you. As you would have known if you weren't stupid, I have a gun and permission to fire when provoked. I'm planning on doing research. Do you by any chance know how much aggression can be shown before it reaches the point at which fighting back in a potentially fatal way is legal?"

The colour drained from Lightning's face. Trying to look brave, he stuttered, "You… you wouldn't. You wouldn't dare. You're too chicken. I bet you don't… you don't even know how to use… how to use… a g-gun… I'll get the… the cops onto you…"

Shadow smiled slightly, appearing satisfied. He turned back and kept walking. His friends followed him. Lightning just mumbled random things about 'firearms' and 'chicken' and 'illegal' and 'police' and 'jail'. He was definitely scared.

"So, do you actually have a gun? And are you seriously allowed to use it without messing up the law and stuff?" Knuckles asked. "And were you serious about the research, or do you already know how much someone needs to make you angry for you to be allowed to shoot them? Hey, when me and Sonic were arguing, and you freaked out, were you allowed to fire on us? Wow, I'm never arguing again if you were. Or do you need to get attacked with violence? I'm gonna start throwing paper planes with messages on them at your house. I need to ask so many questions. If I'm annoying you right now, does the law let you put bullets in my face? Wait, if Lightning was stupid to not know that you had a gun, are we stupid?"

Shadow's eye twitched a little, like it always did when he was annoyed. He took a deep breath and then very quickly answered all of Knuckles' questions. "Yes I have a gun it's currently at home I do have legal permission to use it but only in extreme cases I'm only allowed to use it if somebody's seriously trying to kill me lucky for us Lightning doesn't know anything about gun laws I wasn't allowed to shoot you when you and Sonic were arguing this morning and even if I was I wouldn't have done anything I was too busy getting over the fact that you were having an argument about baby food you're not going to throw questions at my house unless you feel no need to sleep peacefully at night without fearing that the guy next door is going to use that gun despite the law and I haven't told you four about the gun up until now so you aren't stupid I was just messing with Lightning's single brain cell." After saying this, Shadow breathed in very quickly to avoid accidentally suffocating himself.

Knuckles blinked, then nodded. Just as he did this, Sonic asked, "So, will we meet at the basketball courts as usual?"

"Okay," said Amy, answering the question for everyone. Barely a second after she did this, the bell rang for the start of the school day, practically giving Tails a heart attack and cutting off any more questions Knuckles may have been about to ask. The friends simultaneously looked at their schedules, which were sticky-taped to their lockers. Sonic, Tails and Shadow were starting the term with English, and Knuckles and Amy had to go to Science. The friends went off to their classes, waving at each other as they moved away.

As Sonic, Tails and Shadow walked into their English class, they were met by the usual sight - a few of the school's twenty or so Year 10 students sitting down, one or two looking for a good seat, half a million words written on the whiteboard and their teacher, Miss Rabbit, standing at the front of the room in her typical long, purple dress. About half the class was already there, sitting in various positions. Tails found three seats reasonably close to the back of the room – jackpot! He motioned for Sonic and Shadow to come sit with him. However, just as the three friends took their seats, an all-too-familiar face appeared once again.

"I think you might have sat in my seat by mistake."

Lightning was there again, being a complete jerk as usual. Sonic looked up and said, "I don't see your name on it."

Tails stifled a laugh. Lightning could be taken down by the simplest and most overused comebacks sometimes. The bully growled in a hostile way. He was about to tighten a hand on Sonic's shoulder when Miss Rabbit interfered. "Lightning, what are you doing?"

For a split second Lightning hesitated, then answered, "He took my seat!"

Miss Rabbit told him sternly, "I think that if this seat really was yours, you most likely would have set out your things already. Sonic, Shadow and Miles can sit where they like in my class. Why don't you come and take this nice seat at the front?"

Lightning made a weird noise like he was going to put his hands around Miss Rabbit's neck, then resisted the urge to kill his teacher and, grumbling angrily, sat down at the desk she had pointed to. Shadow asked his friends quietly, "Should we be happy that we got rid of Lightning, or scared because now we're screwed at recess?"

Tails thought for a while, then replied, "Does that toy sword thing that Sonic's little brother bruised my leg with that one time count as a weapon? Because I think I know someone who has one we could borrow if we need to avoid being torn apart."

Meanwhile, in Science, Knuckles and Amy were at least going a little better. The teacher Dr. Fukurokov, an old owl with glasses, a white beard, an unpronounceable surname and a very short temper, waited for the Year 7 class to settle down. Everyone in the class sat down at two-person labs, ready to mix together chemicals with potentially explosive results. Just as the last seat had been taken, Dr. F told the class, "Alright, everyone. I have all your names written down on pieces of paper, which I've got in this thing." At this point, he held up a mug saying 'Complex Science for Remaining Period of Fitting the Official Definition of Alive' on the side. "I'll take out two names at a time, and those two will be in a pair at the lab I tell them to. There will be NO swapping unless commanded by me."

The class groaned. There was only one thing they all agreed on - random choice was evil. Ignoring his students, Dr. F pulled out two bits of paper. "And at this lab here, we will have… Espio and Mighty. Over here… Charmy and Saffron. At this one…"

So far, everyone picked had been lucky. Espio and Mighty were close friends, and Charmy and Saffron were going out. More and more students were partnered up. "Honey and Mina. Azura and Misty. Knuckles and… uh… this one is kind of hard to read… Anny? No, we don't have an Anny. Hang on… Knuckles and Amy!"

Knuckles and Amy high-fived each other excitedly, then raced to their lab. The day was starting off well for them.

The lessons went by. Sonic, Shadow and Tails handed up their first worksheets. Naturally, Tails got 100% and an A+. Sonic managed to get most of his answers right, and Shadow just about got the C he needed to pass the test. Knuckles and Amy made it through their first experiment, avoiding any smashed glass beakers and getting a decent mark as well. Time ticked on. Eventually, the bell for recess rung, freeing everybody. Our friends raced to the basketball court where they usually met up.

"You guys sure took your time," Knuckles pointed out.

"Well, we ended the previous lesson on the other side of the school. On the other hand, you and Amy came out of the History classroom just a short distance from where we stand now," Shadow explained with obvious annoyance.

Amy shuddered. "Ugh. Don't remind me. History is the absolute worst. Hey, where's Tails?"

"Oh, he went to the robotics club meeting or something you'd expect Tails to be a part of in the last lesson," Sonic said. "He said that he'd be waiting on the oval."

So the foursome walked to the grassy field where P.E. lessons were often held. While they were doing this, Knuckles asked, "Where the heck is everyone? I've seen… one, two, three… four - no, three other people on the way here. And the basketball court is usually packed."

Before any of his friends could come up with an answer, though, they saw something which seemed to be some kind of solution. Nearly every single student at Emerald High School was part of a massive crowd that seemed to all be watching some sort of massively important event. Somebody seemed to be saying a lot of stuff which was earning cheers from the group of onlookers. Sonic, Amy, Shadow and Knuckles pushed their way through to a position near the front of the crowd. The closer they got, the more they could hear. Nothing said sounded like anything that was going to end in happiness, cake and love. It was all mean comments: "Nerd… freak… weird friends…" The four heroes were worried - this was sounding like a nightmare they had experienced far too often. Despite their anxiety, they kept moving until they could see and hear everything. What they were met by confirmed their fears of the worst.

Lightning was doing another of his massive bully shows. And Tails was his chosen victim.


	4. Chapter 3 - Saving Tails

**Chapter 3 - Saving Tails**

 **A quick note from the author: I can't believe I've already gotten several reviews and over a hundred views! Thank you for making me feel like my story is good. You guys are so awesome, you know that? And now, back to where we left off… (dramatic effects, background music, etc.)**

Tails looked like it was taking most of his energy not to show his fear, but despite what was being thrown at him, he stood his ground. Sonic looked back to his other friends. "Okay," he explained, "here's the plan. When Lightning says something that I have a comeback for, I'm gonna step in and deliver it, then rescue Tails while everyone yells 'burn' and our enemy here is stuttering."

"Okay, so what do we do?" Amy asked.

"Stand behind me and look cool. I need an awesome entourage."

Before his friends could argue that they wanted to do something cool and not just look cool, Sonic moved forwards in the crowd. As usual, Lightning was casually delivering insults and smirking. "And you know that guy who's all depressed and stuff? What's his name, Shader? Something like that. Well, I heard from a real friend - you know, the type that likes me - that you and your insistence on hanging around him is why he's such a jerk about everything."

Shadow let out a distinct noise of fury. If the crowd wasn't calling out their agreement just at that moment, he and his friends would have been noticed. He had good reason to be angry, though - he had suffered in the past, and the cause for his constant bad mood wasn't something to be taken lightly. Knuckles put a strong hand on his shoulder, partially as reassurance and partially to stop him from rushing forwards and trying to literally take Lightning to pieces. Reluctantly, Shadow stopped trying to move forwards, although he didn't relax his tense muscles. Nobody's favourite bully continued the verbal onslaught. "But hey, let's not overdo this. If I put all the emphasis on your so-called 'friends', I won't be able to describe how much more your parents hate you. I hear that the story goes something like this - your mummy and daddy were so paranoid about ending up with another freak like you, they weren't brave enough to start their own happy little family. How unfortunate. For them, of course. I mean, we don't care, do we? We're not gonna spend the rest of our lives trying to deal with some weird kid. Hey, that reminds me! Why don't I try to fix him? All in favour of fixing the freak, raise your hand!" A hundred hands, blinded by terrified loyalty, shot into the air. Lightning smiled evilly. "I thought so. Let's get started, shall we?"

Without warning, he grabbed one of Tails' tails and started pulling. Tails yelled in surprise and pain. Sonic gasped. Never mind the first plan he'd come up with - this was going too far. He had to save Tails.

Sonic felt like the world was in slow motion. He raced through the crowd, barging through teenagers. He arrived at the scene, but didn't stop. Instead, Sonic jumped up in the air then aimed for Lightning, who was watching him in surprise. Sonic shot into the bully as fast as he could manage and knocked him right over, then grabbed his best friend and dragged him away at top speed, not stopping until he realised he had come to the other side of the school. Sonic put Tails down and slowly worked out what had just happened. He looked up to his friend, realising that Tails was staring at him like he had just survived a flaming arrow in the heart. Sonic waved a hand in front of his face. "Are you alright, buddy? Wait, stupid question. Let me rephrase that. Why are you staring at me like I just survived a flaming arrow in the heart?"

Tails blinked a few times. "Sonic, do you seriously not realise how fast you just ran in there?"

Sonic cocked his head to one side. "Well, I went faster than I do normally, even with the whole thing about me being, like, the fastest dude here in Emerald Village. So I'd say about sixty kilometres an hour, maybe a little less."

Tails' eyes practically popped right out of their sockets. "Sonic, you made a freaking sonic boom. You went faster than sound! Actually, it makes sense that you couldn't hear it. The sound couldn't reach your position before you had moved somewhere else. I guess I heard because I was behind you. But seriously, this is nuts. You're defying the laws of nature and physics right now. According to said laws, an object moving at an extreme velocity densifies the particles in it, thus increasing mass. Very fast acceleration like you displayed will create such a sudden increase of the impact of gravity and the three other fundamental forces that if V is the eventual velocity, M is the regular mass and T is the time it took to go from 0 to V, then…"

Sonic zoned out of Tails' scientific ramblings, lost in thought. Denying the laws of physics was pretty overpowered. Could he repeat it? What would happen? He noticed Knuckles, Amy and Shadow coming towards him and snapped out of his complicated thoughts. "I think we lost him and found them!" Amy called to the other two.

"Would you care to explain why you just denied fizzers?" Knuckles asked Sonic, halfway between angry and in awe.

"It's PHYSICS, you knucklehead, and I think that right now our priority is shifting schools," Shadow growled. He turned to Sonic, ignoring Knuckles' complaints about the terrible pun on his name. "Nice stunt, blue, and I know that Lightning deserved it. But did you really have to ensure our spending eternity in torture?"

"Yes," Sonic replied. "And to be honest, I don't really care. If I can deny weight-speed-blah-blah-blah physics, then I can just suck that jerk into a home-made black hole."

"You'd cause the death and destruction of all Mobiankind, Mobius itself, and if this black hole of yours is big enough, possibly the solar system. I don't want to risk crossing an event horizon every time I go to my room to play Angry Chao," Tails pointed out.

Before a conversation about black holes, physics, and Angry Chao high scores broke out, the bell rang, signalling the start of the next lessons. Sonic thought back to his schedule. "Argh. Me, Tails and Shadow have Maths, then History."

Knuckles grinned. "Ha, Amy and myself are gonna enjoy Sport, then Art."

Sonic grabbed Knuckles by the shoulders and shook him like the craziest hedgehog on the planet. "Take me with you!"

"Nah, can't," Amy shrugged. "Suffer in Maths."

The rest of the day passed by in a blur of worksheets, reading and painful-sounding death threats from Lightning. Thankfully, he was given a detention in lunch and after school for accidentally missing Shadow and hitting the teacher with a spit ball. (Whew - crisis averted, thanks to the perfect combination of school law enforcement and lazy writing.) Eventually, the last lesson of the day was ended with the ringing of a school bell and our soon-to-be heroes raced outside. "Hey, do you guys wanna come over to my place?" Tails asked. His friends agreed, and they all walked in the direction of his house. Knuckles, Amy and Shadow ran ahead, but Sonic and Tails hung back a little. "Sonic?" Tails asked. "Thanks for saving my life and my second tail back there."

"No problem, buddy," Sonic grinned back. "That's what friends are for. Especially ones that make boom thingies."

Pushing away any stray thoughts about strange new abilities, Sonic and Tails sprinted to catch up with their friends after a long and tiring day.


End file.
